Editor in Chief

Choosing There’s a disaster

Chosing a Candidate at the school newspaper—

everything’s jumbled
and incomplete!
Washington D.C.– Who will win the presidenshial

election? To ansur that question, you need to sit down and

deside who will do the best job. That is the question on

every American citizins’ mind today.Look at each candidate

Sequencing?
and what their pozition is on the economy, taxes, and other

inportant issues Figure out if the person is qualified for

running our contry. Being an enformed voter is your dutee

as an American citizen, so take your time and make the

write choice for you.

 Table of Contents
Editor in Chief
How Do You Spell...? *
That's It - Period *
Sequencing
What's Your Evidence?
Talk, Talk, Talk *
Funnies
Batter Up *
Is Something Missing?
Person
Homophones *
I Want More
To Capitalize or Not To Capitalize? *
Combinations
Commas *
Advertising *

Certificate of Completion
Answer Sheets

* Has an Answer Sheet

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 Preface: A disastrous week at the school newspaper—everything’s jumbled and
incomplete. Kids have “submitted” pieces of writing to proofread and edit.

HOW DO YOU SPELL...?

John has submitted the following post. It contains
10 spelling errors—can you find and correct them?

Directions: Circle or highlight each spelling error.

Write the correct way to spell each word on the
blanks below.

Chosing a Candidate
Washington D.C. – Who will win the presidenshial election? That is the question
on every American citizins’ mind today.To ansur that question, you need to sit
down and deside who will do the best job. Look at each candidate and what their
pozition is on the economy, taxes, and other inportant issues. Figure out if the
person is qualiied for running our contry. Being an enformed voter is your dutee
as an American citizen, so take your time and make the write choice for you.
Ex. Choosing

1. 6.

2. 7.

3. 8.

4. 9.

5. 10.
 THAT’S IT - PERIOD
The period key on Mary’s computer is stuck, so she
doesn’t know where her sentences start or end. Her
article is missing all of the periods. Can you add them
and capitalize the beginning of each sentence?

Directions: Write in all the missing periods. Underline

a letter that should be capitalized 3 times.

New York, New York – Fashion Week has arrived! For

those of us who cannot attend, here is the scoop on the
latest fall fashions the favorite item for everyone is the
hoodie solid colors are the most popular – particularly
neon colors if you’d like something dressier than a
hoodie, cardigans are a great way to stay warm go
with more neutral colors like gray, white, brown, and
black graphic tees of any color, the more creative the
better, are very in boots for girls and loose-laced shoes
for boys will be what is on everyone’s feet, so go out
and start shopping
 SEQUENCING
Earl cut and pasted the points in his article out of sequence. Can you
put them back in order?

Directions: Cut along the dotted lines. Rearrange the strips so that the
article makes sense. Glue the strips down to the paper.

I tried so many different types of baked goods that the staff had to practically roll me out of
there when I was done, but it was well worth it.

Not only did I find amazing desserts at Delicious Treats, I found great customer service as well.
The staff was friendly, helpful, and gave out samples freely.

I highly recommend that you try out Delicious Treats. Whether you decide to eat in their
bakery, or take it to go, you won’t be disappointed.

Foodies, are you ready for another great place to grab dessert? I searched high and low for the
perfect chocolate chip cookie, and I think I finally found it.

Besides the great food and great service, Delicious Treats is also unique because all of their
ingredients are organic and come from local companies.

In my search for the perfect cookie, I asked many people who they thought sold the perfect
morsel. The name Delicious Treats on 4th Ave., kept coming up, so I went down to check it
out for myself.
 WHAT'S YOUR
EVIDENCE?

Antonio’s opinion piece does not have enough supporting evidence.

Can you help him?
DIRECTIONS: Put an X next to the 3 statements below that best support his opinion.

UNIFORMS MAKE SCHOOL SAFER

Many public schools are trying to decide if they should require students
to wear uniforms. I believe school uniforms should be required to keep
children safe, help everyone feel equal, and to increase learning.

EXAMPLE:
x
_____ Some symbols, like skulls, on clothing are distracting to other
students because they are not appropriate for school.

1. ______ Colors, symbols, and the way you wear your clothes can affect others
around you.

2. ______ Students should not be allowed to wear ugly clothes to school.

3. ______ There are too many rules at school already.

4. ______ Some students’ parents can afford to buy their children designer clothes,
while others cannot.

5. ______ Students who wear shorts too low, or tops too short, can make other students
feel uncomfortable, and make it difficult to pay attention to the lesson.

ANSWERS: 1, 4, 5
 TALK, TALK, TALK

Sylvia’s article includes dialogue. She’s written down the sentences that need punctuation
below, but isn’t sure what to do.

Directions: Add punctuation to the sentences below.

Remember: Quotation marks only go around the talking part (the words that are coming
out of a person’s mouth).

You need to use a comma to separate the talking part from the non-talking part.

Ex. The firefighter yelled Stay away from the front door
The firefighter yelled, “Stay away from the front door!”

1. The mother cried Please save my baby

2. What room is she in asked the firefighter

3. Sara is on the second floor first door on the

right replied the mother

4. Ill find her don’t worry said the kind man

5. Thank you! Thank you! called out the mother as

the firefighter ran into the house
 FUNNIES
TIM FORGOT TO ADD DIALOGUE IN HIS CARTOON!
Directions: Add dialogue to the cartoons.

Remember: Quotation marks only go around the talking part (the words that are coming
out of a person’s mouth).

You need to use a comma to separate the talking part from the non-talking part.

BATTER UP!
Directions: Cut out the sentences at the bottom of the paper. Glue them into the column they
belong in: past, present, and future.
PAST
The Padres won the game
with a final score of 5-0.
The best hitter on the
team is coming up to bat.
Experts say that Brian
Thompson will hit four
home runs against the
Orioles tomorrow.
Julia was trying to write a sports article,
but kept confusing what happened at
the baseball game yesterday with
what’s going on at the baseball game
right now, and what might happen at
the game tomorrow. Help her out by
sorting the sentences in her article into
past, present, and future.
PRESENT FUTURE
The pinch runner tore his The game will start at
calf muscle yesterday 6:00 p.m.
when he ran around third
base.
Steve Pages is rounding
third, and it looks like he
might make it to home!
 IS SOMETHING MISSING?

Baban is having a hard time understanding that a

complete sentence has a subject and a predicate.

DIRECTIONS: Please read through Baban’s article

about going to the fair, and mark all the complete
sentences with a C, and all the incomplete
sentences (also called fragments) with an I?

REMEMBER: A complete sentence should answer

the questions:

Who is the sentence about?

What is he doing?

EXAMPLE: The child ran across the parking lot. Who? The child. What is he doing? Running
across the parking lot. So, “The child ran across the parking lot.” is a complete sentence.

1 ________ The boy waited in line for fair tickets.

2 ________ The people in front of John.

3 ________ Were waiting patiently for their turn.

4 ________ John went right to the Ferris wheel when he got inside the park.

5 ________ He jumped into the seat and buckled up.

ANSWERS: 1. C, 2. I, 3. I, 4. C, 5. C
 PERSON
Jesse was asked to write an article from the first person, second person, and third
person perspectives. When he was done, he forgot which one was which.

DIRECTIONS: Please help Jesse by writing first, second, or third by the correct version of
each story.

REMEMBER: First person is when a character narrates the story with I, me, my, mine in his
or her speech.

Second person is when the author uses the words you and your. S/he is talking
directly to the reader.

Third person is when the reader is an outsider that is able to see the thoughts
of everyone in the book. Most writers choose this point of view.

As you walk up the hill, you realize that it’s just too quiet. There's no sound from
1 the bird you know is almost always singing from the top of the maple tree. You
think you see a shadow move high up on the slope, but when you look again
it's gone. You get goose bumps on your arms.

________________________________

As I walked up the hill, I realized that it was just too quiet. There was no sound
2 from the bird who was almost always singing from the top of the maple tree. I
thought I saw a shadow move high up on the slope, but when I looked again it
was gone. I felt goose bumps pop up on my arms.

________________________________

As she walked up the hill, she realized that it was just too quiet. There was no
3 sound from the bird who she so often heard singing from the top of the maple
tree. She thought she saw a shadow move high up on the slope, but when she
looked again it was gone. She felt goose bumps pop up on my arms.

________________________________
ANSWERS: 1. second 2. first 3. third
HOMOPHONES
Alicia wrote an editorial about her family, but
mixed up the homophones.
Directions: Can you go through her article, and write the correct form of each
homophone on the line?

Remember: A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word, but it is
spelled differently, and has a different meaning. ex. here and hear

I was born into a family with won ______________ little

ex. two
sister and too ____________ older brothers. My older
brothers were always competing with each other, and
whoever one ________________ never let the other live it
down. My little sister was constantly following me around.
I can’t count how many times I herd ________________
her say two _____________________ me, “I want two
__________________ come, to ___________________.”
But, know ____________________ matter how much
my siblings wood ________________ annoy me when
eye _____________________ was a child, I still new
___________________ that nothing was more important
than family.
 I WANT MORE!

The newspaper just hired a new writer, and he is having a hard time being descriptive.
His sentences are just too short!

Directions: Show him how to be a better writer by adding on prepositional phrases to

his sentences.

Remember: A preposition is a direction word like: on, over, under, around, above, below, etc.

Example: I went to the store.  I went to the store in my brand new car.

1. The bird flew.

________________________________________________________________________

2. The hawks chased him.

________________________________________________________________________

3. The bird hid.

________________________________________________________________________

4. The little bird decided to find a new home.

________________________________________________________________________

5. He found the perfect spot.

________________________________________________________________________
 TO CAPITALIZE, OR
NOT TO CAPITALIZE?

To capitalize, or not to capitalize? That is the question. You need to figure

out which words to capitalize.

DIRECTIONS: Practice on the article below by putting three lines under

letters that should be capitalized, and crossing out letters that shouldn’t
be capitalized.

Everything started to shake! That is probably what You

experienced last saturday if you live in Los angeles. The
Earthquake scored a 4 on the richter scale. luckily, no
one was hurt, and there was only a little damage done to
buildings. The biggest problem was when the water main
on thompson ave. broke and looded the street. trafic was
backed up for two hours.

“i would rather wait in trafic for two hours for a little

earthquake than deal with a Big earthquake,” Said julie,
one of the unfortunate people stuck in the jam.
 COMBINATIONS
Sarah keeps repeating the same words in her articles. Help her
get to the point by combining sentences.

Directions: Read the article. Figure out which sentences you can
put together to make one sentence. Don’t be afraid to take out
words you don’t need. Rewrite the paragraph below with the new,
combined sentences.

Housing boom! The city is building 300 new houses in Charleston. The houses will be
two story. The people of Charleston are really excited. The people of Charleston are really
looking forward to more people moving in.

“We think the new people will bring business to our town. We think the new people
will bring new ideas to our town,” said Mrs. Swanson, resident of Charleston.

The housing development is expected to be done within two years. Those interested
in buying a house can start picking out their property. Those interested in buying a house
can decide what style of house they’d like.

Contact your realtor if you are interested in purchasing a new house.

 COMMAS Commas can be very tricky. The sentences
below are from different articles that are
missing commas.

DIRECTIONS: Add the commas that are missing.

REMEMBER:
Commas go in a list of items of two or more.
Commas go after transition words.
Commas go between the day and year. They also go after the year if there are more
words after the year.
Commas go between the city and state. They also go after the state if there are words
after the state.
Commas go before a conjunction (and, or, but)

EXAMPLE: I’m going to travel to Little Rock Arkansas for Thanksgiving break.
I’m going to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, for Thanksgiving break.

I need to buy strawberries apples bananas and grapefruit from the

1 grocery store.

2 Next add two cups of flour to the mixture.

3 The food festival will start on July 13 2015 and go until August 2 2015.

4 Would you rather go to Sioux City Iowa or Lincoln Nebraska?

5 Finally get limes lemons and oranges for the juice.

 ADVERTISING

Irwin is having a hard time coming up with titles for his ads. You explain to him that to
write a good title, he should read the whole ad, and then decide what it is all about.
Irwin should then come up with a title that describes the main idea.

Directions: Help Irwin come up with a title for each of his ads below.

Example: We need three bedrooms and at least two bathrooms. There should be yard
space for two dogs. We need a one story house.

HOUSE NEEDED
1. The car is a 2010 Honda Accord, and it is in excellent condition. I’m asking for $10,500,
or best ofer.

____________________________________________________________________

2. The puppies are 6 weeks old, German Shepherds, and will be ready to leave their
mother in two weeks. There are 2 boys and 3 girls. Both parents have good health
records, and you are welcome to meet them.

____________________________________________________________________

3. I’m an experienced painter. I do free estimates, and charge $10 a hour when I start
painting. I can do houses of all sizes, inside and out.

____________________________________________________________________

4. I have a Poodle and a Labrador who need to be walked two times a day. They are
both very friendly dogs, and walk well on the leash. I’m willing to pay $8 an hour.

____________________________________________________________________

5. Saturday 9 am – 1 pm. We will be selling clothes, yard equipment, decorations, and

house items. Our address is 12345 Light Way, Santee.

____________________________________________________________________
Great job!
is an Education.com writing superstar
 Answer Sheets
Editor in Chief
How Do You Spell...?
That's It - Period
Talk, Talk, Talk
Batter Up
Homophones
To Capitalize or Not To Capitalize?
Commas
Advertising

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http://www.education.com/education-plus/

Copyright © 2013 Education.com. All Rights Reserved

 Answer Sheet
Preface: A disastrous week at the school newspaper—everything’s jumbled and
incomplete. Kids have “submitted” pieces of writing to proofread and edit.

HOW DO YOU SPELL...?

John has submitted the following post. It contains
10 spelling errors—can you find and correct them?

Directions: Circle or highlight each spelling error.

Write the correct way to spell each word on the
blanks below.

Chosing a Candidate
Washington D.C. – Who will win the presidenshial election? That is the question
on every American citizins’ mind today.To ansur that question, you need to sit
down and deside who will do the best job. Look at each candidate and what their
pozition is on the economy, taxes, and other inportant issues. Figure out if the
person is qualiied for running our contry. Being an enformed voter is your dutee
as an American citizen, so take your time and make the write choice for you.
Ex. Choosing

1. presidential 6. important

2. citizens 7. country

3. answer 8. informed

4. decide 9. duty

position right
5. 10.
 Answer Sheet

THAT’S IT - PERIOD
The period key on Mary’s computer is stuck, so she
doesn’t know where her sentences start or end. Her
article is missing all of the periods. Can you add them
and capitalize the beginning of each sentence?

Directions: Write in all the missing periods. Underline

a letter that should be capitalized 3 times.

New York, New York – Fashion Week has arrived! For

those of us who cannot attend, here is the scoop on the
latest fall fashions. The favorite item for everyone is the
hoodie. Solid colors are the most popular – particularly
neon colors. If you’d like something dressier than a
hoodie, cardigans are a great way to stay warm. Go
with more neutral colors like gray, white, brown, and
black. Graphic tees of any color, the more creative the
better, are very in. Boots for girls and loose-laced shoes
for boys will be what is on everyone’s feet, so go out
and start shopping
 Answer Sheet

TALK, TALK, TALK

Sylvia’s article includes dialogue. She’s written down the sentences that need punctuation
below, but isn’t sure what to do.

Directions: Add punctuation to the sentences below.

Remember: Quotation marks only go around the talking part (the words that are coming
out of a person’s mouth).

You need to use a comma to separate the talking part from the non-talking part.

Ex. The firefighter yelled Stay away from the front door
The firefighter yelled, “Stay away from the front door!”

1. The mother cried, "Please save my baby!"

2. "What room is she in?" asked the firefighter.

3. "Sara is on the second floor, first door on the

right," replied the mother.

4. "I'll find her, don’t worry," said the kind man.

5. "Thank you! Thank you! called out the mother as

the firefighter ran into the house.
 Answer Sheet

Julia was trying to write a sports article,

but kept confusing what happened at
the baseball game yesterday with

BATTER UP! what’s going on at the baseball game

right now, and what might happen at
the game tomorrow. Help her out by
sorting the sentences in her article into
past, present, and future.

Directions: Cut out the sentences at the bottom of the paper. Glue them into the column they
belong in: past, present, and future.

PAST PRESENT FUTURE

The Padres won the game
with a final score of 5-0.
The pinch runner tore his
calf muscle yesterday
when he ran around third
base.
The best hitter on the
team is coming up to bat.
Steve Pages is rounding
third, and it looks like he
might make it to home!
Experts say that Brian
Thompson will hit four
home runs against the
Orioles tomorrow.
The game will start at
6:00 p.m.
 Answer Sheet

HOMOPHONES
Alicia wrote an editorial about her family, but
mixed up the homophones.
Directions: Can you go through her article, and write the correct form of each
homophone on the line?

Remember: A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word, but it is
spelled differently, and has a different meaning. ex. here and hear

one
I was born into a family with won ______________ little
ex. two
sister and too ____________ older brothers. My older
brothers were always competing with each other, and
won
whoever one ________________ never let the other live it
down. My little sister was constantly following me around.
heard
I can’t count how many times I herd ________________
to
her say two _____________________ me, “I want two
to
__________________ too
come, to ___________________.”
no
But, know ____________________ matter how much
would
my siblings wood ________________ annoy me when
I
eye _____________________ was a child, I still new
knew
___________________ that nothing was more important
than family.
 Answer Sheet

TO CAPITALIZE, OR
NOT TO CAPITALIZE?

To capitalize, or not to capitalize? That is the question. You need to figure

out which words to capitalize.

DIRECTIONS: Practice on the article below by putting three lines under

letters that should be capitalized, and crossing out letters that shouldn’t
be capitalized.

Everything started to shake! That is probably what you

experienced last saturday if you live in Los Angeles. The
Earthquake scored a 4 on the Richter scale. Luckily, no
one was hurt, and there was only a little damage done to
buildings. The biggest problem was when the water main
on Thompson Ave. broke and looded the street. Trafic
was backed up for two hours.

“I would rather wait in trafic for two hours for a little

earthquake than deal with a big earthquake,” said Julie,
one of the unfortunate people stuck in the jam.
 Answer Sheet

COMMAS Commas can be very tricky. The sentences

below are from different articles that are
missing commas.

DIRECTIONS: Add the commas that are missing.

REMEMBER:
Commas go in a list of items of two or more.
Commas go after transition words.
Commas go between the day and year. They also go after the year if there are more
words after the year.
Commas go between the city and state. They also go after the state if there are words
after the state.
Commas go before a conjunction (and, or, but)

EXAMPLE: I’m going to travel to Little Rock Arkansas for Thanksgiving break.
I’m going to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, for Thanksgiving break.

I need to buy strawberries, apples, bananas, and grapefruit from the

1 grocery store.

2 Next, add two cups of flour to the mixture.

3 The food festival will start on July 13, 2015 and go until August 2, 2015.

4 Would you rather go to Sioux City, Iowa, or Lincoln, Nebraska?

5 Finally, get limes, lemons, and oranges for the juice.

 Answer Sheet

Variations are completely

ADVERTISING acceptable as long as they

still have something to do
with the main idea.

Irwin is having a hard time coming up with titles for his ads. You explain to him that to
write a good title, he should read the whole ad, and then decide what it is all about.
Irwin should then come up with a title that describes the main idea.

Directions: Help Irwin come up with a title for each of his ads below.

Example: We need three bedrooms and at least two bathrooms. There should be yard
space for two dogs. We need a one story house.

HOUSE NEEDED
1. The car is a 2010 Honda Accord, and it is in excellent condition. I’m asking for $10,500,
or best ofer.

CAR FOR SALE

____________________________________________________________________

2. The puppies are 6 weeks old, German Shepherds, and will be ready to leave their
mother in two weeks. There are 2 boys and 3 girls. Both parents have good health
records, and you are welcome to meet them.

FREE PUPPIES
____________________________________________________________________

3. I’m an experienced painter. I do free estimates, and charge $10 a hour when I start
painting. I can do houses of all sizes, inside and out.

DO YOU NEED A PAINTER?

____________________________________________________________________

4. I have a Poodle and a Labrador who need to be walked two times a day. They are
both very friendly dogs, and walk well on the leash. I’m willing to pay $8 an hour.

DOG WALKER NEEDED

____________________________________________________________________

5. Saturday 9 am – 1 pm. We will be selling clothes, yard equipment, decorations, and

house items. Our address is 12345 Light Way, Santee.

GARAGE SALE!
____________________________________________________________________